Jan

7

2008
 
 

Greener grass?



Biofuel can be done, switchgrass study finds

where the buffalo roamGrowing plants for fuel doesn’t always have to lead to rainforest loss or higher food prices, according to a study published today in PNAS. USDA scientist Ken Vogel and colleagues present the results of the first field-scale experiment on the production of ethanol from switchgrass Panicum virgatum, a native prairie grass that grows happily on otherwise marginally productive agricultural land. Ten farms in the midcontinental US took part in the trials for five years, recording both the switchgrass yield and the amounts of fertilizers, herbicides and machinery fuel needed to grow it. The greenhouse gas emissions from switchgrass-derived ethanol were estimated to be 94 percent lower than those from gasoline. Reducing the conflict between food and fuel crops would take away one of the major concerns about biofuel prospects, although the impact of large scale fertilization of anything up to an excess of 21 million hectares of additional cropland will surely bring its own conservation challenges. At face value, though, the proposal beats corn to a pulp. Source: Schmer MR, Vogel KP, Mitchell RB & Perrin RK (2008) Net energy of cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0704767105

Image © Tim Fulbright

Filed Under Climate change, Habitat, Economics and conservation, Community-based conservation, Socio-political issues, Tools and technology | 

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